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NEWS ITEMS
Ghana is the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine that has been described as a "world-changer" by the scientists who developed it.
The vaccine - called R21 - appears to be hugely effective, in stark contrast to previous ventures in the same field.
A trial in Burkino Faso was said to give up to 8-% protection.
R21 is being trialled in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania. Pic: Tom Wilkinson, University of Oxford
Read more on the BBC website - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65252511
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Scientists are calling for immediate action to prevent a species of mosquito new to Africa - which, unusually, thrives in urban areas - from spreading. It has already been reported in Ethiopia and Sudan is likely being spread along major transportation routes. Kenya and Tanzania may be at a particularly high risk due to their close proximity to the Horn of Africa. To read more, click on this link - https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00075343.html
In recent months, I am sure we have all felt real anxiety and oncern that we might be afflicted with coronavirus at any moment. It is an intimidating feeling and generally foreign to us because of the wonderful medical facilities and expertise that exist in Australia. By way of contrast, people in malaria-endemic countries like Uganda, Kenya and PNG feel like this every day and see no end in sight to the malady.
Thanks to your wonderful donations through the Malaria Vaccine Project, we have been able to move one step further in taking the promising vaccine, being developed by Professor Michael Good, Dr Danielle Stanisic and their team at the Institute for Glycomics (Griffith University), to these endemic countries where malaria is so pervasive and so life-threatening.
Michael and Danielle feel overwhelmed by your ongoing support. They write, “Your generosity for the progression of this vital malaria vaccine continues to motivate our team as we plan for the remaining Phase 1 trials with a larger sample in Melbourne. These trials will test the efficacy of the vaccine when it is housed in an artificial membrane called a liposome. The liposome will enable the vaccine to be freeze-dried and transported anywhere in the world”
Although the COVID 19 restrictions have delayed these clinical trials, we need to highlight that success in these trials will facilitate a seamless transfer to Phase 2 trials in malaria endemic countries. We may not be that far away!
On behalf of the Malaria Vaccine Project, I say thank you and I seek your continued help as we try to find another $500,000 to support the remaining Phase 1 trials in Melbourne. We will be so relieved to see the end of the coronavirus; you can help nearly half-a-million children see the end of life-threatening malaria.
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE: malariavaccineproject.com
PDG Graham Jones AM [Rotary District 9640]
Chairman, Malaria Vaccine Project
To view the March newsletter of the "Partnership to End Malaria" click on the image above.
Wing tones of Mosquitoes could stop them mating
Mosquitoes flap their wings not just to stay aloft but for two other critical purposes: to generate sound and to point that buzz in the direction of a potential.
Work at John Hopkins University published in Bioinspiration and Biomimetics showed that the aerodynamics of mosquito wings could have implications for building quieter drones and for devising nontoxic methods to trap and exterminate mosquitoes.
If the right frequency can be determined then the mosquitoes won’t be able to fly and won’t be able to complete their mating ritual.
Mosquito 'Spit Glands' Hold Key to reducing Malaria, Study Shows
Mosquitoes can harbour thousands of malaria-causing parasites in their bodies, yet while slurping blood from a victim, they transmit just a tiny fraction of them. Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine School say they have discovered a barrier that could potentially serve to prevent or reducing malarial infection.
The results published in the journal mBio indicate that the mosquito salivary glands act as the gateway organs for diseases to be spread by these insects. If the saliva can be stopped the this could block the spread of malaria and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases.
An estimated 220 million people worldwide, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions, have malaria, and more than 400,000 die of the parasite infection each year, according to the World Health Organization. Marked by disabling fever, chills, fatigue, and sweating, the disease can be treated with drugs and prevented with mosquito eradication programs, but the high costs of drugs and eradication methods consistently hamper efforts to reduce malaria's prevalence. Other mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue fever, strike scores of millions more.
A Post Doc Dr. Michael Wells stated that "Even though thousands of parasites invade the salivary gland, less than a 10th of them are transmitted during a mosquito bite, so, we knew that the salivary gland is blocking the parasites from getting out, but we didn't know exactly how."
The researchers then mapped out the parasites' location by dissecting salivary glands from these mosquitos and looking for the parasites under high-powered microscopes. They found that only a few parasites were in the salivary ducts.
Andrew said "We hope this information will advance strategies to limit transmission and uncover how other insects have evolved ways to affect disease transmission."
Antimalarial Treatments Less Effective in Severely Malnourished Children
Researchers have found that severe malnutrition is associated with lower exposure to the antimalarial drug lumefantrine in children treated with artemether-lumefantrine, the most common treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria.
Researchers have found that severe malnutrition is associated with lower exposure to the antimalarial drug lumefantrine in children treated with artemether-lumefantrine, the most common treatment, for uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The study, has been published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. It calls urgently for further research into optimized dosing regimens for undernourished children.
Children under the age of five are particularly vulnerable to malaria infection with 61 percent of all malaria deaths worldwide occurring in this group. Malnourished children are at an even higher risk of contracting and dying from malaria, with the disease being associated strongly with poverty.
Artemether-lumefantrine, an artemisinin-based combination therapy, is the most common antimalarial treatment used worldwide and is recommended by the World Health Organization. Lumefantrine exposure, levels of the drug in blood after treatment has been administered, has been reported to be lower in children compared to adults. Children are currently prescribed the same dosing regimen as adults, artemether-lumefantrine twice daily for three days.
This study included data from a clinical trial across two hospitals in Mali and Niger analysing lumefantrine exposure for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in 131 children with severe malnutrition, compared to 226 children without malnutrition.
Researchers found that:
- Severely malnourished children had on average 19.2% less exposure to lumefantrine
- All children had significantly lower drug exposure compared to adults
- All measures of malnutrition correlated with a reduced absorption of lumefantrine, with low mid-upper arm circumference being the most significant factor associated with poor absorption
- Lower exposure to lumefantrine also resulted in an increased risk of therapeutic failure and acquiring a new malaria (P. falciparum) infection during the follow-up period
Professor Joel Tarning, head of the WWARN Pharmacometrics group who led the study, said: "There are serious knowledge gaps in associations between malnutrition and antimalarial drug efficacy and this study provides key insights. Malnourished children are more severely affected by malaria and they have lower levels of antimalarial drug in their bodies after standard treatment. This needs further study so that we can treat these patients better”
Climate Warming Could Increase Malaria Risk in Cooler Regions
According to researchers at Penn State and the University of Exeter, Malaria parasites develop faster in mosquitoes at lower temperatures than previously thought, The findings suggest that even slight climate warming could increase malaria risk to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people in areas that are currently too cold for malaria parasites to complete their development.
The previous work conducted almost 100 years ago suggested that in cooler temperatures malaria parasites developed too slowly to be transmitted to people during mosquitoes' lifetimes.
This latest work challenges the original hypothesis and The findings appear in the June 26 issue of Biology Letters.
The traditional model estimates that parasites in the mosquito take 56 days to develop at 18 degrees Celsius, but the current study shows that it actually takes only 31 days.
The work shows that even small increases in temperature could dramatically increase malaria infections in humans because the parasites can develop much faster at these lower temperatures than has been previously estimated. This has implications for potentially millions of people living in the higher elevations of Africa, such as the Kenyan and Ethiopian highlands, and in South America.
DEET Gives Humans an 'Invisibility Cloak' (7.9.2019)
Until recently the Anopheles mosquito's neurological response to DEET and other repellents remained largely unknown. Now researchers at Johns Hopkins have applied a genetic engineering technique to allow them to peer at the inner workings of the insect's nose.
The research reported in the October 17th edition of Current Biology shows that the mosquitoes aren’t affected by the DEET as it simply prevents human smells being detected, in other words the DEET is simply hiding our smells from the mosquitoes.
The work is still ongoing and the possibility that DEET might also be acting as a contact repellent, possibly deterring Anopheles through taste or touch. At the moment the affect on other types of mosquitoes has not been investigated